Germany will not join potential strike against Syria: Angela Merkel

German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel has said Germany will not join a potential US-led military strike against Syria.

"Germany will not participate in a potential -- and I must emphasize that no decision has been made so far -- military intervention," Merkel told the media on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Merkel also stressed, however, that the use of chemical weapons was always "unacceptable".

Berlin said it would consequently direct its energy towards non-violent means of preventing the use of further chemical weapons in Syria, for example by supporting the activities of the United Nations Security Council and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

US President Donald Trump had earlier threatened military action against the Syrian government which he blamed for the alleged chemical attack.

Activists, local rescuers, and rebels in Syria claim that Syrian government forces used chlorine gas on Saturday in an attack in Douma, a rebel-held area near capital Damascus.